THE CRANKY OLD MAN
Random thoughts and stuff from a cranky old man. Humor (maybe)and satire, mostly stuff from a confused head.
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

No Good in the Clutch

No Good in the Clutch

In 1990 I
leased a new Jeep Wrangler.I loved the Jeep
Wrangler, it was no frills yet it had a certain “cool” factor.I felt it was a safe car for my kids to
drive, not so much power that they would be tempted to speed and showoff, but
cool enough for a high school kid.I
leased the car because I couldn’t afford to buy it outright.I could afford the lease, but money was
tight.

The car ran
fine for a year until there was suddenly a problem with the clutch. The car
simply would not shift past second gear.Reverse was not even an option.I
probably should have had the car towed to the dealer for service, but that
would have been expensive so instead I drove it twenty
miles in second gear.I took it to the dealer because I
assumed the problem would be under warranty.

The clutch
needed to be replaced.It was apparently
completely shot.Of course it was not
under warranty.The drive chain was
covered (whatever that is) the steering was covered, the tires were covered, and
the electric was covered.Everything on
that car was covered by a warranty; everything but the clutch.

A new clutch
cost $600 a major dent in my meager bank account.Of course it had to be replaced; the car was
only one year old.At this point I
wished I had brought the car to my regular mechanic, Tom at the Volk’s Shop (see
“The Volk’s Shop” http://joeh-crankyoldman.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-volks-shop.html)
which was only one mile from my house.Tom generally fixed anything and never charged me more than $300.Oh well, a clutch was a clutch and sure to
cost at least $600 even if installed by my favorite trusted mechanic.

I bit the
bullet and paid the $600.

Exactly one
year later the jeep once again would not shift past second gear.Crap!This time I drove it over to The Volk’s Shop for Tom to fix it.

“What’s the
problem,” Tom asked.

“Ah'm not
sure, it just doesn’t want to get out of second gear.”I had long ago learned to never tell Tom what
you thought was the problem.Tom was a
great mechanic, but he was very literal.If you told him what you thought was wrong, that is what he would fix.It was much better to say “I don’t know” and
let him determine what needed to be done.

I walked
back home trying to figure out how I would get the money to pay for a new
clutch…again…and cursing that friggin Jeep under my breath.When I got home Tom had called. He was probably giving me the bad news and checking
if I wanted to spend the $600 on a new clutch.

I called him
back.

“Volk’s
Shop.”

“Yeah Tom,
it’s Mr. Hagy about the Jeep…what’s the bad news?”

“Oh yeah,
it’s not good…”

“Shit” I
thought, "here it comes.”

“Yeah, your
clutch cylinder has a small leak.I
could replace it for $137.48 (the man was always precise) but if you just added
fluid every year it would probably be OK, it’s a really small leak.It cost $2.97 for fluid, no charge for labor,
didn’t take but a minute”

This was
great news, $2.97 not $600.

When I picked up the car, I had to ask Tom, “Tell me
Tom, any chance the cylinder was damaged when the original clutch was
replaced?”

“Doubt
it.That there clutch is the original.”That clicking sound is the light bulb over my head turning on.

One week
from the time that Tom made it abundantly clear that the Jeep dealer had
completely ripped me off, the Jeep dealer burned to the ground. It burned down one year and a week after they charged me $600 for a new clutch when all they did was add clutch fluid.

No…I didn’t
do it…I’m Cranky, not crooked, but the dealership had either burned down by
some unfortunate accident, or more likely, knowing them to be unscrupulous, they were losing money and it
was torched for the insurance.

10 comments:

I think we could both write posts about the warranty hoaxes we've experienced. This is apparently a lot more common that you'd like to think. Anytime a warranty is pages long and filled with legalese, you can be sure some lawyer wrote it to protect the manufacturer and to screw the consumer. That's why all those "exceptions" are in there.

I don't understand how a place can stay in business when they treat customers like that. Word of mouth is worse/better than any advertising. I'm betting you're right about them burning it all down on purpose.

Stick with the local guy. I have one of them too. Actually I have a couple of them. ALL of them are like big brothers to me and I worry not about car repairs of any kind. Karma is a ripe b!tch, not to be reckoned with in a fould mood or with ill intent.

The dealership might have burned down, but they will open up shop and do it all over again, new name, new face, new place- but still the same foul intent.

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I am 70 years old, I have 4 children 45,42,40 and 18;and 5 grandchildren 13-6
. Divorced twice, married three times. I worked on Wall Street for 40 years after graduating from Lafayette College in 1968. I have turned to writing as since retirement I needed something to tell people "What the F*** I do." Published one book "Maybe It's Just Me!" available at Amazon, soon to release my second, "I Used To Be Stupid."
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